texas. barrett s attorney claims he was bipolar but was off his meds the night of the attack. later he went to this bar and showed off the video to bystander, one of them an off-duty police officer. knockout incidents have dated as far back as 1992, but video that has gone viral. from states like illinois to washington to new york. the purpose of the so-called game is to knock unsuspecting pedestrians out cold with a single punch. the barrett case has prompted lawmakers to re-examine state versus federal hate crimes. state law just enhances hate crimes. in other words, your sentence is enhanced if it is proved that you committed a hate crime. however that s defined in a particular state. but under federal law hate crimes are a separate crime, which again raises some questions about the constitutionality of the equal protection clause. reporter: barrett s attorney
really hard time with that. that he s scared and frightened. kyra. there s a lot involved here, right? the race issue, the fact that this is a federal case. all the details surrounding what happened and also this barrett guy. that s right, very complex, kyra. barrett is a 27-year-old caucasian male. the victim is a 79-year-old african-american male. race is on the table because according to the federal complaint, barrett attacked because of the man s race and color. there s also apparently video of the attack with barrett saying that the plan, quote, is to see if i were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised? we have seen a lot of those so-called knockout cases in the last year. they have been reported in illinois, washington, and right here in new york. the justice department says there have been knockout incidents as far back as 1992, but this is the first time we re seeing a federal charge, at least in the latest string of knockouts and the defense is going to